Valentina
by DC Redux
Summary: Selina Kyle did the best she could to escape her past as Catwoman, enforcer of the Falcones, and her past as Valentina Falcone, child of Don Carmine. But when a mysterious woman named Bertinelli informs her that his empire is making a resurgence in Europe, she is flung back into the life of Catwoman to finish her father's empire off once and for all. [Part of the DC Redux Universe]


**DC Redux Presents**

 **Valentina**

 **Written by Bodhi Ouellette**

 **Chapter 0 - Selina Kyle**

* * *

 _The flowers in the garden withered away as the ocean breeze blew dying plants away with the wind. There was a stone pathway that lead through the front lawn towards the main entryway, where a family of six are carrying cardboard boxes full of their belongings and loading them into large white vans and moving trucks. The beautiful house perched on top of a beautiful hill overseeing the sunny beach was being emptied out from everything. Other men are carrying larger items such as furniture, beds, couches, and the like. One of the children, the youngest of them, took one last look at the garden. Cared for her and her mother, she felt heartbroken to see the beautiful sight of flowers and plants go away. The thought of never seeing it again couldn_ _'_ _t stop her from tearing up. A shadow bigger than her approached her, kneeling down to be at her height._ _"_ _What_ _'_ _s wrong dear?_ _"_ _he asked his daughter, resting his hand on her small shoulder._

" _It_ _'s just_ _…_ _this Garden, daddy,_ _"_ _cried the young voice._ _"_ _Mom and I put so much work into making it so pretty and now, we_ _'_ _ll never ever get to see it again._ _"_ _Her tears started to stream down her face even more. Her father turned her around so he could face her and wiped the tears off her face._

" _It is okay to be sad, Valentina,_ _"_ _he said to her._ _"_ _Sometimes, in life, we meet and greet friends who we may never get to see again. A pet that we loved so dearly, lost. Or a place such as this that we must let go to pursue bigger things. But this, my dear, is not the end. You will still have the memories in your head, and the passion you had for this garden will be in your heart. Never let go of this place, Valentina, and never let go of what you hold so dearly to you._ _"_

 _She sniffed._ _"_ _Okay, daddy. Wherever we go, can we build another garden?_ _"_

" _Of course we can. I am proud of you my daughter. Have one last look at this house. We must go._ _"_

 _The rest of the family were already in the limousine to leave. The father helped walk his youngest out from the front gates, as they both shared one final look at the place that once was called home. Now it was a memory. A memory that wouldn_ _'_ _t be forgotten._

* * *

 **Sicily, Italy:**

It felt like paradise to be living in Sicily. To wake up in the morning and smell the ocean breeze, as the rays of the sun filtered through her tall windows and beam down onto her bed, balancing the warm sun from the cold air from the wind. It woke her up to hear the sounds of pedestrians busting through the streets, enjoying the incredible city. It was a sound she missed hearing. She removed the thin layer of blanket off of her, and from there, started her day; a quick shower, followed by scrambled eggs and toast with herbs and cheese for breakfast, listening to her playlist of oldies she grew up with on her Spotify, blasting the sounds through her speakers. Sitting on a high top table in her kitchen, eating her breakfast while sipping a glass of coffee, she went through her messages on her phone quickly to be delighted by the barrage of texts from her friends telling her happy birthday.

Today she was turning twenty-four years old, and later on that day she was planning on going out for drinks with her friends to celebrate. Simple, but that's how she liked it. Birthday's don't mean a whole lot to her these days. Once she finished reading the slew of messages, she placed her phone back down, then finished her breakfast and coffee. She got dressed, with a light thin shirt and short jeans with a bikini under her clothing. After that, she grabbed a big straw hat and her purse, slipped her shoes on, her keys and other belongings like purse and phone, a tower, and was off on her day.

The streets were busy and the people were everywhere, surrounding the small farmer's market located a few blocks away from her place. Grabbing a basket, she began sifting through the array of foods on display at the market, picking and choosing foods that have turned ripe like avocados and strawberries. She collects all of the things she had handpicked, and checks them out, heading down the hill directly towards the beach.

She laid her towel down on the burning sand and dropped her bag onto it. She then took off her clothes to reveal her bathing suit. She makes her way towards the shoreline, where she stood in the wet sand and waited for the waves to surround her feet. She could feel her feet sinking into the ground, the warm ocean warping around her calves, the wind hitting her face, breathing in the smell of salt water. She missed this feeling for so long, the feeling of the sand seeping into the gaps of her toes, the ocean cooling her body on a hot summer day. She continued to walk forward into the sea, where she just let the water lift her up from the ground and float… Letting the sea drift her, swaying her…

The apartment was spacious, mansion size even. From the view, her and her family could see the entirety of Gotham City, an industrial dream come true. Which is why her father decided to move here in America. The booming industry had turned its _head towards the United States, and her father decided that_ _'_ _s where the business needed to go into._

 _But she missed her home. She missed the bright sun, the ocean, the beautiful garden. She missed the calmness. Here, it felt dreary, the steam gushing out from the chimneys as tall as the skyscrapers themselves. It didn_ _'_ _t feel like home._

 _There was a balcony that oversaw the entire city, big enough to hold chairs and tables. And a small garden which she and her mother had discussed doing on the flight over. She agreed, although knowing it wouldn_ _'_ _t be as pretty as the one they made before._

 _Her siblings all brought their belongings into their rooms. She shared her_ _'_ _s with her older sister, a room big enough to be two. She placed her box of belongings onto the side of the room she was taking, and went out to enter the balcony, gazing at the view of Gotham. Even the air was dirty, coughing at the smell of smoke. Her mother kneeled behind her and began to brush her hair with her fingers._ _"_ _I know, Valentina, it_ _'_ _s different than before,_ _"_ _she whispered in her ear._ _"_ _But in time we will learn to love it._ _"_

" _It won_ _'_ _t be the same, mama,_ _"_ _she replied back._ _"_ _It won_ _'_ _t ever be the same._ _"_

" _I know dear, but we had to move._ _"_

" _Why? What is here that wasn_ _'_ _t back at home?_ _"_

" _Darling, you know why we had to move,_ _"_ _her mother repeated._ _"_ _Your father was offered a better position at his work, that was only offered here in Gotham. We moved so that our family could have an even better future._ _"_

" _But why here? Why couldn_ _'_ _t it be back home?_ _"_

" _Valentina, listen,"_ _her mother kneeled down to her level._ _"_ _I was sad to leave our home. It was the hardest decision your father and I had to make. But we needed to do it. Your father couldn_ _'_ _t refuse the offer. Now make yourself at home, we have lots of unpacking to do._ _"_

 _She sent Valentina to her room, where she began unpacking her belongings and placing them on shelves. She was sharing her room with her sister, who had already claimed one side of the bedroom. Valentina arranges her knick knacks accordingly, picture frames and the like on bureaus, and her collection of dolls on her bed. All Valentina could do to was trust her mother, and try her best to adapt to this new environment, as their family was known for._

That evening, she had taken one quick shower to wash her of the salt residue left behind in her swim at the beach, before dressing herself up in a loose purple dress that reached down to her knees, her shoulders and back exposed. She slid on her matching purple shoes, wearing locally made jewelry, a small cross necklace hanging around her collar bone. She placed her phone and her wallet inside of her small leather bag. Before she left, she looked at herself through the mirror, and for a second, saw the woman that was once her, a long time ago. An abomination, manipulated and used. She quickly erased those thoughts away once more, as she didn't want to be reminded of her past life. It never existed if anyone was concerned about it. Her eyes couldn't escape the quick glance of her closet, where the last remaining remnants of her past stayed, locked away in a case never to be touched. "Forget the past…" she uttered. "Focus on the now." She turned off the lights in her apartment, locked the door behind, and left to celebrate her own annual holiday.

She entered into Sale and Loeb's Bar, where she automatically noticed a couple of her friends already taking a seat at one of the tables. When they noticed her come in, they waved their arms up to notify her to come. She arrived, taking a seat in next to one of her best friends from the city, greeting with warm hugs and kisses on the cheeks. "Welcome, welcome!" her friend Claudia greeted, speaking with her thick Italian accent. "Happy birthday, Selina!"

"Happy birthday my beautiful girl you!" her other friend Sofia replied back from the other side of the table.

"Thank you too!" Selina replied back to them, with generous sincerity. "These birthdays always mean a lot to me."

"Oh we know!" said Sofia excited. "We've got tons of interesting things we're planning on doing after the bar, and you're going to love what we have in store!"

"So excited!" Claudia screamed. "Ava and Maria will be coming in pretty soon as well, but I think we can start off with a glass of margarita for each."

"Great."

"One last thing," Sofia started. "We know you're not very interested in dating anyone recently but-"

"Guys-"

"But he's so cute and lovable, and he totally fits your personality! Please, just one date, that's all we ask of you!"

"Nobody's my type, Sofia. Nobody."

"She's kinda right on that," Claudia said. "It's hard to find people who are kinda moody all the time. Besides, who's to say this one will work out too?"

"This time, I think it'll work out," stated Sofia. "Please, Selina?"

"Hem… well, alright. Just one date, okay? Who's this person anyway?"

"His name's Carlos, he's from Florencia, and he's just such a nice guy. You'll like him, trust me."

"Okay. Hey, I'll go ahead and order the drinks for us while the other two get here," Selina offered. "The usual?"

"The usual," Claudia and Sofia replied in unison.

Selina left the booth they were sitting in and turned towards the bar, where she approached the bartender, who gave her a look as if he knew what she wanted. "The usual?"

"The usual, Sale," Selina replied back. "Make two more for some friends coming in soon too, okay?"

"You got it, Selina," said Sale. "And happy birthday to you."

"Thanks," she smiled back. She waited for the drinks to be ready, when a woman, sitting next to her, smoking a cigarette, caught her eye. She looked over to see a dark skinned Italian woman, wearing a black dress with purple highlights, high heels, and frizzy black hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Nice dress," the woman stated to Selina.

"Thank you," Selina replied back. "I bought it down the street at Miller's Outlet."

"Always love the way he makes his fabrics." She looked down at Selina's collarbone, noticing the silver cross around her neck. "I like your necklace too. You're Catholic?"

"I am, though I haven't gone to Church or read the book in a while. I do pray, though."

"Been seeing a lot of people do that these days. They still hold onto their books and their crosses, but never ritually celebrating in the name of the Lord. Ah well. Just an example of the world changing, it seems." the woman finished off her bud and crushed it into the ashtray. "I have to ask, but is your name, Selina Kyle?"

Selina paused. What is this woman's deal? "Yeah?" she answered. "Everyone knows who I am here. You have a problem with that?"

"Nope, just checking is all. Though I'm a bit taken aback, I wasn't expecting that sort of reaction from you when I asked. Understandable, coming from where you are." Selina grew more suspicious of the woman, who took a swig of her champaign. "Of course, it's rude of a former devoted Catholic to change their Christian born name to something else, isn't it Valentina Falcone?"

The name rung in her ear drums repeatedly like a siren going off in her head. She stood still, taken aback by the woman who somehow knew her original name. The name she abandoned so long ago. Now she brought back her history of the Falcone family. She leaned forward to the woman. "Who, the hell, are you? And what do you want with me?"

"Helena Bertinelli," she answered back. "I am a member of a very top secret organization located in Roma in collaboration with the European Union, in charge of keeping an eye on any criminal empires that appear in the union. And I'm afraid that one little Falcone empire has returned, right in the heart of Italy; back in Roma."

"How is that possible?" Selina asked her. "I… I thought he was on top of the world? I gave him everything he wanted."

"Once you left, a couple years after a little Bat came and cleaned out Gotham City from the criminal scum, before moving his efforts to a global scale," Helena answered. "He broke the Falcone empire, but he didn't destroy it. Now he returns to Roma to settle his base here once more, and I need a little bit of help from having him gaining more control of this country."

"I can't help you with that. I won't. Not after what he's made me do."

"Oh, I read your report, Miss Kyle."

"Report? What report?"

Helena pulled out her cellphone showing Selina snapshots of her case files that were about her. "We people know things most people do not. Because you were a Falcone we made a digital file on each and every one of them to keep tabs on them and update their whereabouts. Yours, I must admit, is very impressive. Acrobatics, master of disguises and thievery. You had your work cut out for yourself as Catwoman, the Carmine Falcone empire's secret weapon. His daughter, Valentina Falcone."

"Enough of that. That is no longer my name, do you hear me? I'm no longer a Falcone."

"You can't escape that part of your life, Selina, no matter how hard you try. It was inevitable that the things you did, whether genuine or not-"

"None of it was genuine. I was just a teen. I- I've killed for him. I killed a man I never wanted to do."

"-would come back to haunt you. I'm sorry I had to do this, but you are the only one who can help me in stopping the Falcone's once and for all. I can offer you anything you want in return. I just need your help. Your set of skills and knowledge of your father to allow us to bring him down."

Selina fell silent. She wasn't really sure how to proceed with the conversation. She wanted to say no, that she couldn't help her with anything. But if she agreed, that would mean returning to the life that she swore off the last time she encountered her father maybe six or seven years ago, before she was even an adult, to finish the final deed he forced upon her. No more Catwoman, no more Valentina Falcone. It was Selina Kyle from now on, a lonesome woman living an early retirement in Sicily, Italy. But if what she said was right, that her father's empire was crumbling thanks to the Batman, then all she had to do was finish it, something she had hoped would happen for ages.

"I understand what I said was a lot," Helena interrupted Selina's thoughts. "Especially on your birthday. Here, I'll send you an email with all the files on your family and their current whereabouts."

"You know my email?" Selina asked.

"I know everyone's email. I even know the Pope's email. You'll see why if you agree. If you do that is," Helena pulled out a blank business card that just had her number scribbled in pen. "You can call me through this number."

Sale returned with all five of her drinks Selina ordered, with a big plate for her to carry over. "I'll leave you be," Helena said. "Go. Enjoy your birthday. Forget this meeting happened for now. When your nights were done, think about it."

But Selina could not forget about it. All of her friends had come, and the night went on as they all enjoyed drinks, food, and a night out at the local fair that ended with a trip to the beach to see the moon as clear as day, reflecting off the ocean waters. After the abundance of selfie pictures and moments of self-reflection and memories, and small presents to Selina, she still kept bringing herself back to think of Helena's offer. She was right. Her past would come back to haunt her, and maybe it was time to finish this chapter of her life, end it at twenty-four years and begin anew at twenty-five. Before all of her friends departed, she kept looking back at the ripples in the water, reminding her of home…

 _The stain glass image of Jesus Christ pinned and hanging from the crucifixion illuminated the sunlight onto the open coffin of Valentina_ _'_ _s mother, Louisa Falcone, her body rested peacefully, displaying all throughout the Church for family members to see. Her siblings all sat on their benches quietly, mourning the loss of their mother. Valentina was devastated by her mother_ _'_ _s sudden and tragic passing, being caught in a shootout between the Falcone and their nemesis the Maroni family. Louisa, the limousine driver, and her two guards were all murdered by gunfire._

 _Her memorial read_ _"_ _Louisa Falcone; 1962-2000. Beloved Wife, Mother, and a Caring, Loving Woman._ _"_ _It was perfect for Louisa, who fit all of these descriptions. She was a wife, a mother of four kids, and cared for every and all people, no matter who they were. She admired the courteous memorial. As the Priest continued reading a Eulogy for her mother, she witnessed a moment where her father was comforting an unknown woman she wasn_ _'_ _t too familiar with but recognized her. She was a friend of her mother's, and to her, it looked as if her father was comforting her. But she noticed that they were both holding hands. This made her a bit uneasy._

 _After the coffin was closed, and her father and other members of her family carried the coffin out of the Church, she and her siblings waited for them to follow, as they entered into a limo and reached a graveyard, where they lowered the coffin into the ground and buried it. It was torment for her, to see her mother go down in the dirt, but her father claimed that his kids needed to be there to see her rest in peace. To Valentina, there was no peace, just tragedy._

 _When they arrived home, back in their apartment, the rest of her siblings left to do their own thing. Valentina_ _'_ _s father kneeled over and faced her._ _"_ _I know you are heartbroken about losing your mother,_ _"_ _Carmine stated._ _"_ _I am too. And I swear I will spend the remainder of my existence to find the people who did this, and end them. She will get justice, Valentina. I promise you._ _"_

 _She trusted that her father would keep his promise. But there was something about his face, something about his tone that made it seem like he wasn_ _'_ _t sincere about it. Like he stated it just to please her. Something had happened to her mother, but she didn_ _'_ _t exactly know how it tied in with her father. Not until she was much older that was_ _…_

When Selina returned to her apartment it was almost one in the morning, but she had no desire to sleep. Instead, she opened her phone up and saw the email notification from Helena. When she opened up the email, she found the document of over two hundred pages full of information about Carmine Falcone, each of his kids including Selina, all of his affiliates, and the detailed events of his rise and downfall in Gotham City, due to the efforts of Batman, who's efforts in reducing the crime rate by arresting criminals tied to the Falcone empire, crumbled him. It noted in the docs that the return of Bruce Wayne to the city, and his efforts to raise money to rebuild poor neighborhoods was another source of influence of Falcone's loss of control, as he owned many of the poor neighborhoods. They noted how both Bruce Wayne and Batman came in at the same time, finding it oddly coincidental. Selina didn't care so much about that, and more about where her family was now. All Helena said was true, as they moved back to Rome to set base and his kids had taken over to help spread control all across Italy.

She exited out her emails and plugged in the numbers that Helena gave to contact her. The phone rung, until she could hear a click through the other line. "I'll do it," said Selina. "Where do you want me to go."

"Meet me in Venice," Helena replied back through the phone. "At Saint Mark's Basilica. Tomorrow night at six if you can."

"It'll be done." Selina hung up, throwing her phone across the bed and falling onto her bed, resting for a moment, before opening her closet and pulling out a box, inside her old Catwoman costume she wore. Back in the life as Catwoman, it looked like. What Falcone created was a weapon to help him raise hell in Gotham. Now she would use the suit to destroy it.

* * *

 **Embark on this new exciting direction for Selina Kyle and Catwoman. Find out where it goes from here in Valentina, Chapter 1, a new series in DC Redux Wave II! Catch up on the other Wave I series like Incandescent Legacy, 21st Century Superman, Beyond Gotham and The Book of Oa!**


End file.
